Epitaxial Growth Of Higher Transition-Temperature Vo2 Films On Ain/Si

We report the epitaxial growth and the mechanism of a higher temperature insulatorto- metal-transition (IMT) of vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films synthesized on aluminum nitride (AIN)/Si (111) substrates by a pulsed-laser-deposition method; the IMT temperature is T-IMT approximate to 350 K. X-ray diffractometer and high resolution transmission electron microscope data show that the epitaxial relationship of VO2 and AIN is VO2 (010) parallel to AIN (0001) with VO2 [101] parallel to AIN [2 (1) over bar(1) over bar0] zone axes, which results in a substrate-induced tensile strain along the in-plane a and c axes of the insulating monoclinic VO2. This strain stabilizes the insulating phase of VO2 and raises T-IMT for 10 K higher than T-IMT (single crystal) approximate to 340 K in a bulk VO2 single crystal. Near T-IMT, a resistance change of about four orders is observed in a thick film of similar to 130 nm. The VO2/AIN/Si heterostructures are promising for the development of integrated IMT-Si technology, including thermal switchers, transistors, and other applications. (C) 2016 Author(s).